I want to move!! I've had it with living in Washington. Everywhere you go you run into signs like this. If the street is not closed or blockaded for security purposes or the sidewalk isn't being ripped up to put in steel bollards to prevent truck and car bombs from getting closer to the building, then the street or sidewalk is torn up for construction of one kind or another.

I started my bike ride headed for the Arboretum and its long hills. As I crossed H Street I realized that Bladensburg Road was completely torn up for regrading. (Oh, I guess it'll be nice when they're done. Last week it wasn't torn up, though.) First I hit a 6 inch drop, then I struggled to avoid deeper potholes, road over a 3 inch bump onto the fresh concrete for the bus stop and then turned around and headed for Haines Point. It's tough to get there. You have to pass the Capitol. That means going past security checkpoints, not a big deal for bikes, but Consitution Ave is a complete mess while the new underground Capitol visitor's center is built. I have taken to going wide around the Capitol to avoid the mess.

Upon reaching Haines Point I found the park was closed. I don't know why. People were in it, but the gate across the entrance was closed. So I headed out the trail I crashed on in May. I wasn't keen on going that route, the hills are steep but as tight as a roller coaster so you can use the down hill momentum to get up much of the way. Makes you think you can climb hills faster. I didn't recognize the place I crashed. That was good. After finally getting past all the intersections that ruin the ride I got onto a good stretch of 2.5 miles of smooth riding and no stop signs. (No wonder my average heart rate was only 114.) On the way back I past a cyclist who had an accident on a steep and curving hill. I don't know what happened but she was being lifted onto a stretcher when I past. Scary. I went down that hill at 24.4mph max. It's smoothly paved, some scary curves. Maybe some idiot was in her lane on a turn.

As I arrived back in the District of Columbia (via a different bridge than on the way out) I ran into one more problem. This. Then after riding along the reflecting pool, I got to the WWII Memorial to see a sign, "No bikes." Umm, excuse me, but the only place I can go is back to the Lincoln Memorial. (There was no other outlet and no warning down by the Lincoln Memorial.) So I walked the bike. Then I was at 17th Street, across the street is the construction plywood walls encircling the Washington Monument. The Park Service is putting in steel bollards to protect the monument from a truck or car bomb terrorist. It's a giant granite obelisk. I can't imagine it's a high value terrorist target. Since about 1999 or 2000 it has been circled closer to the building by TWO rows of "jersey" barriers, those big white concrete things used to divide lanes on some highways. That was a belated response to Timothy McVeigh and his ilk.

Finally I got to the Capitol and tried to go up the inner road and parking area on the Capitol grounds (House side). No bikes. This is relatively new. The last time I passed the security checkpoint on Independence Ave. the guard looked at me like I was odd for riding on that busy, rutted and pot-holed road, in the bus lane. Well, that's because the usual path for cyclists is now closed to them. I was going to take First St. north, but the construction to secure the Library of Congress is butting into the road still, so I took 2nd Street, behind the Supreme Court, there's at least three security checkpoints and on street parking is gone. So I took yet another route. With all the security I don't feel any safer. Not that I'm feeling insecure either.

The "ride" lasted 37 miles, total trip 43. I feel stronger, but don't know. I've done this ride enough to know how to take these hills and they all went down easily. I think I came down one of them slower than I went up. Lots of hairpin turns.